The Nile Basin Development Challenges was a test bed for comms & KM approaches for other ILRI/CGIAR projects. At the end of the Challenge, Peter Ballantyne and Ewen Le Borgne (both having driven comms/KM work in NBDC) sat together to review lessons from NBDC for other projects.
These reflections are related to a prezi on the KM and Comms history of NBDC: http://prezi.com/yplgpujf6khv/nile-basin-development-challenge-comms-km/

What to keep / use again:
  • Support to coordination role (e.g. monthly meetings);
  • National platform to continue supporting;
  • Push the ‘comms’ envelope / get it as the norm of all projects;
  • Much more facilitation of events and meetings;
What to change/adapt:
  • Get comms more involved in IP process;
  • Upfront preparing checklist of comms activities;
  • Strengthen production of reflections from the activities/events/trips // guidance;
  • Policy engagement – have more attention to it, with the right people;
  • Too much online / not enough email work?
  • Not enough stats and use of these;
  • Improve management of contacts and mailing lists + SNA à Salesforce + combine it better with other lists of CG events etc.
  • Radio, mobile phone etc.
Review of the specific comms channels:
- Yammer: Hmmm. No easy alternative.
- Wiki: Working quite well
  • o Refresher courses for staff?
  • o Put more efforts into synthesis of events and activities?
- Web: Simple site, with regular stories. Good to have a home URL. Simple to update.
  • o Structure to improve?
  • o Not enough stories from the field
- Slideshare: Nesting was good for the whole program – good to have this explicitly part of CPWF
  • o But needs proper tagging to track specific NBDC items (e.g. NBDC)
- FlickR:
  • o Needs more regular efforts to capture pix from staff.
- YouTube: Good.
- CG Space:


What to keep / use again:
  • Support to coordination role (e.g. monthly meetings);
  • National platform to continue supporting;
  • Push the ‘comms’ envelope / get it as the norm of all projects;
  • Much more facilitation of events and meetings;
What to change/adapt:
  • Get comms more involved in IP process;
  • Upfront preparing checklist of comms activities;
  • Strengthen production of reflections from the activities/events/trips // guidance;
  • Policy engagement – have more attention to it, with the right people;
  • Too much online / not enough email work?
  • Not enough stats and use of these;
  • Improve management of contacts and mailing lists + SNA à Salesforce + combine it better with other lists of CG events etc.
  • Radio, mobile phone etc.
Review of the specific comms channels:
- Yammer: Hmmm. No easy alternative.
- Wiki: Working quite well
  • o Refresher courses for staff?
  • o Put more efforts into synthesis of events and activities?
- Web: Simple site, with regular stories. Good to have a home URL. Simple to update.
  • o Structure to improve?
  • o Not enough stories from the field
- Slideshare: Nesting was good for the whole program – good to have this explicitly part of CPWF
  • o But needs proper tagging to track specific NBDC items (e.g. NBDC)
- FlickR:
  • o Needs more regular efforts to capture pix from staff.
- YouTube: Good.
- CG Space: